Headlight.



G. C. BRUFF. HEADLIGHT.

MPL10/Limon ULEB SEPT. zo, 1m.

Patented June 10, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

C. C. BRUFF.

EBADLIHT.

APPLIOATIOIT FILED SEPT. 20, 1912. Patented une 10,1913.

v 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

@j O M; FnGt. mmv- O O O O i 11 AE n FIG. 6. l0 Q HG. 7.

Z71S$J l/ M "Z6 MMM. @faam CHARLES C. BRUFF, OF COALPORT, ENGLAND.

I'IEADLIGHT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 10,1913.

Appleman inea seyitember eo, 1912. seriai no. 721,365.

Ho all Lv/wm 'it may concer/i A lie `it known that 'I,. Guineas ChacunBntirr, a subject ot' llis Majesty the King of England, residing atCoalport House, Coalport, in the county ot Shropshire, Eng land, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Headlights, ot which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention has relation to reflecting devices for use in divert-ingthe path et light rays emitted from'the head lamps or the like oit'automobiles or `otherJ vehicles, boats or the like which are providedwith two or more ot' such lamps placed eide by side; one ot the chieti`uses oft. such invention will be in connection with automotiiles inwhich application it will be hereinat'ter described. In such connectionit aims to make better provision generally ,tor the guidance ot' anautomobile .driver when piloting his vehicle through country roads ondark nights when Ait is ordinarily imj'iossiloh-i or exceedinglydiflicult for him vto locate the ditches or Wayside obstructions such aslarge stones.

' According to this invention when the vehicle is being turned theillumination is so varied that the driver is enabled to get a clear viewboth o1' the road in trout of him and o1 the road in the direction inwhich he isturning,I and the arca so illuminated under normal conditionsis practically continuous. For this purpose a reflector is movablylocated fori'ardly ot each lens oit the two headlights, such reflectorsbeing simultaneously and aut miatieally operable to be moved to deflecta portion otl each beam of light to the side ot' the vehicle inaccordance. with the change in direction ot the steering wheels. By thisarrangement of the reflectors on the head lamps when the vehicle isturning to the right., for instance, the beam oit light from the innerlamp will be split into two parts one being deflected to the right inaccordance with the movement of the steering wheels, the otherundcflectcd part being projected in the direction o1 the chassis. rlhercis thus a patch between these two parts which is not. illuniinated bythe inner lamp, but the beam emitted from the outer lamp is alsocorresiiiondingly divided into two parts by the reflector with the reisult that the deflected part fills up the said patch not'. illuminatedby the inner lamp, the undeflected part of the beam ot the inner lampalso filling up the space between the deflected and undeflectedpartsoff. the outer lamp. By this linvention therefore when the automobie or the like is turned to the right or left the continuous width ofillumination is automatimilly spread, respectively to the left or rightwithout an dark patches being formed between the t efleetcd andundeflectcd parts of the beams, so that not only is the area illuminateddirectly ahead of the chassis as in the case of fixed head lampsordinarily used but a corresponding area is similarly illuminated aheadof the steering wheels which latter have been rotated .in relation tothe chassis. Thus it will be seen that if the driver of the automobilehas to suddenly change the direction of the vehicle for instance to theright, light is automat-ieally projected in that direction, while lightis at the same time )rejected forwardly of 4the chassis and there ore ifhe has to quickly reverse the automobile to the left he can do so with amaximum of safety.

The invention further consists in improved means or automaticallyoperating the reflectors from the steering gear and for,

enabling the reflechir to be detached from the lamp when such reflectorsare not required to be used.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into practice reference may be had to the accompanying drawingson which Figure 1 isa View o1 a head lamp of an automobile having fittedthereto a reflector which is operatively connected to the steering gear.Fig. i! is a front view ot a portion of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an undersideplan view of a portion ot' Fier. 1. Fig. l1 is an enlarged sideelevation of the reflector and the means operatively, connecting it to arocking shaft operated through the medium of the steering gear. Fig 5 isan enlarged view of the rocking shaft.. Figs. 6 and 7 are enlargeddetail views.

Aecordinff to a convenient embodiment, a vertical rellctor 1 is attachedto each lamp 2 so as to project forwardly thereof and so 'as to becapable of horizontal movement about a vertical axis, the reflector 1normally, c., when the car is running with all wheels parallel, being ina vertical plane parallel to the direction ot' the automobile andconsequently the reflector offers little or no obstruction to thedirect; beam from the lamp in`virtue of `being presented edgewisethereto.

.The lamps are stationarily attached to .the chassis in anyconvenieritmanner and they reflectors are preferably detachably securedto the rim 3 of the lamps 2 as by pin receiving sockets 3 and 4projecting respectively from the upper and' lower rear socket 4 hasfitted thereto a pvotally mounted spring tongue 4 which at vits outerend' is provided with a projection 4b to engage .and lock inta recess 4cwhen such tongue 4n lis moved across the bottom of the socket 4 toprevent accidental detachment of the refiector, the closed end of theupper socket 3f co-acting with the tongue 4 to this end.

The rotary movements of the reflectors are eff'ectedi simultaneously andautomatically from the steering gear and according to the extent of theangular displacement of the reflector from the normal position so theillumination effects of the head light will be caused to vary in virtueof the reflection of the liO'lit rays incident on the refiector.

According to a convenient means of automatically rotating the reflectorsfrom the steering gear, a rocking shaft 5 is fitted lto the front of theautomobile, which shaft is.

rocked by means of the lever G'connected to thesteering crank 7 and to'the depending crank pin 8 secured to the rocking shaft. Also secured tothe shaft 5 are crank pins t) which are connected by the adjustable rod11 to the L-shaped member 10 secured tothe socket 4.

The connection of the adjustable rod 11 to the crank pin 9 is preferablyeffected by means of a tubular member 12 adapted to slide thereover andpivotally connected 'to the lever ll whereby the reflector l, member 10and rod 1l and tubular member 12 may be detached and packed away as aunit ready for instant application when desired.

It will now be understood that in turni'ng sharp corners, the reflectorsmove over with the Wheels and by spreading the light produce a desirableillumination of the corners While still leaving the pilot illuminationfrom the straight beam, there being a continuous area of illuminationWithout dark atches. Correspondingly the Iroad and ebjects to the rightor to the left, as the ease may be, are illuminated in a desirableinanner when the vehicle is traveling along a bending road, or takingaturning.

A'further advantage afforded by the invention is that the increase inthe effective lateral range of the illumination of. the beam Losetas onone side or the other of'the limits of. the

normal range thereof acts as a light signal to indicate. the directionin which the Vearound an abrupt bend such as 'a hairpin bend into oraround which the vehicle is being steered will act to'give indication ofthe approach thereof before the vehicle itself may be visible to thoseapproaching.

Having new described my invention, what I claim is A- 1. ln or inconnection with the head lamps of automobiles or the like, vertical re-.

flectors rotatably mounted in front of such lamps, and means for'automatically and sil multaneously rotating said reflectors inaccordance with the turning of the vehicle, whereby the beam of lightfrom each lamp is divided so that :in area is illuminated which extendsboth directly in front 4of the vehicle and in the direction in which itis bein 2. ln or in connection with the head lamps of automobiles or thelike a rotatable vertical reflector detacliably mounted. forwardlvof'eachlamp, a member secured in relation to the chassis of tire-vehicleand automatically operated :for rotating the reflector in accordancewith the cha-nge in di i'ection of the vehicle. and connectionsdetachably engaged with said member for transmitting motion to saidreflector, which connections and reflector are detachable as a unit. j

3. In or iii connection with the head lamps of an automobile or thelike, a rosov tatalile vertical reflector detachably mount- Y edforwardly of cat-h lamp, a rocking shaft secured to the vehicle, meansfor rocking the shaft from the steering gear, and meansV connecting andtransmitting motion from the rocking shaft to the reflector, which meansare detachable from the rocking shaft,

ln testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

CHARLES C. Bit-UFF.

VWitnesses A KA'iiiLnnN M. Tiion'rsoN, JAMES Davies.

